LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The multiple sides appealing a ruling that negated Arkansas’ school choice law made their arguments before a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday, but there was no immediate ruling.

Judges on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard from lawyers for the state, school districts and a group of parents who want the court to overturn a lower judge’s decision to strike down the law.

A group of parents in Malvern had challenged a portion of the law that blocked their children from transferring to another school district because of the district’s racial composition. Under the 1989 law, some transfers could be blocked if they would affect a district’s racial balance.

However, U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson decided to throw out the entire law, saying no single part of it could be severed.

That decision effectively blocked the parents, who are white, from being able to transfer their children. It also led to the state Education Department and the Little Rock School District to join the court action, arguing in favor of overturning Dawson’s ruling.

An attorney for the parents, attorney Jess Askew III, argued that Dawson was wrong to not strip out only the race-based portion of the school choice law.

“That was an error of logic, an error of analysis, an error of state law,” Askew said.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Richardson, arguing for the state Education Department, said underperforming districts typically have large numbers of minority students. He said the law should be returned to the books, saying a failure to do so would “raise a serious segregation issue.”

The Little Rock School District, which is part of a long-running desegregation case, also wants the law upheld, including the race-based provision. The district argued that the law provides a desegregation remedy and that Dawson used the wrong legal standard.

Also Wednesday, state Sen. Johnny Key, R-Mountain Home proposed a change to the state’s school choice law. His measure would allow students to be free to transfer unless they’re in a district that has a pending desegregation court order or judicial decree.